KSC on disembarkation day

[MichelleCanada]

We would like to spend the day at the Kennedy Space Centre the day we get back from our cruise in August. We are staying at Port Orleans after the cruise for 3 nights and currently have Disney transportation booked. However, we are looking for a way to go to KSC as soon as we get off the ship. Does anyone have any suggestions for a shuttle company that will take us there, store our luggage for the day and then bring us to our hotel? I have found one company that will do it but it will cost $587 USD!! Yikes!!

 

[LizGirl]

Why not rent a car for the day and leave your luggage locked in the trunk? The area is very easy to navigate.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

My recommendation is to rent a car for the day.

 

[MichelleCanada]

We have rented a car on from MCO to a hotel near the port and take car shuttle to the port. But if we rent a car from the port after the cruise and use it for the day I don't know if we can drop it off at our hotel that night.....we have no problem renting a car - it's the end of the day piece I am unsure of....any suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[Maggie'sMom]

We have rented a car on from MCO to a hotel near the port and take car shuttle to the port. But if we rent a car from the port after the cruise and use it for the day I don't know if we can drop it off at our hotel that night.....we have no problem renting a car - it's the end of the day piece I am unsure of....any suggestions are greatly appreciated

Where are you staying that night?

ETA: Oops! Sorry, I just reread and saw the Port Orleans stay is after the cruise. You could arrange for DME from MCO to PO. Drive from KSC to MCO, drop the car off, then take DME from MCO to PO.

 

[MichelleCanada]

Where are you staying that night?

Port Orleans French Quarter

Originally we were just going to take Disney transport to our hotel. But my son would love to go to KSC and it is so close to go to after leaving the ship.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Port Orleans French Quarter

Originally we were just going to take Disney transport to our hotel. But my son would love to go to KSC and it is so close to go to after leaving the ship.

I was in the process of editing my post when you responded. My idea is posted above.

 

[MichelleCanada]

Where are you staying that night?

ETA: Oops! Sorry, I just reread and saw the Port Orleans stay is after the cruise. You could arrange for DME from MCO to PO. Drive from KSC to MCO, drop the car off, then take DME from MCO to PO.

I am going to look into the cost of this!! Thank you for the suggestion. The only downside I see is the amount of time to do everything - but great idea!

 

[Sytrace]

We have rented a car on from MCO to a hotel near the port and take car shuttle to the port. But if we rent a car from the port after the cruise and use it for the day I don't know if we can drop it off at our hotel that night.....we have no problem renting a car - it's the end of the day piece I am unsure of....any suggestions are greatly appreciated

There is a car care center at WDW resort where you could return the car and then they can shuttle you over to Port Orleans. The CCC is located outside the Magic Kingdom parking lot. They also have locations at Disney Springs, Swan/Dolphin.
I would do that and avoid a lot of unnecessary travelling and bus rides.

 

[MichelleCanada]

There is a car care center at WDW resort where you could return the car and then they can shuttle you over to Port Orleans. The CCC is located outside the Magic Kingdom parking lot. They also have locations at Disney Springs, Swan/Dolphin.
I would do that and avoid a lot of unnecessary travelling and bus rides.

I did not know this! You may have given me the perfect answer I will look into that right now! Thank you!

 

[MichelleCanada]

There is a car care center at WDW resort where you could return the car and then they can shuttle you over to Port Orleans. The CCC is located outside the Magic Kingdom parking lot. They also have locations at Disney Springs, Swan/Dolphin.
I would do that and avoid a lot of unnecessary travelling and bus rides.

Just checking the pricing - this is cheaper than taking the DCL transportation for $35/person AND we get the day at KSC on our timeline!! THANK YOU!!

 

[Sytrace]

You are welcome KSC is really fun and should be enjoyed taking your time.

 

[mdgineok]

I did not know this! You may have given me the perfect answer I will look into that right now! Thank you!

I did the reverse of this and it worked great. Rented a one-way car from the Disney Car Care Center and drove to Port Canaveral. The rental car company picked me up at OKW and brought me to the DCCC. I drove the rental back to OKW. picked up my family and luggage and drove to PC. I dropped the family and luggage off at the port and took the car to the rental car company at PC. Then took their shuttle back to the port. My family only had to wait for me for about 20 minutes. I imagine the reverse with a stop at KSC would be just as simple. It was cheaper than the Dis port transfers for my family of four to rent a minivan one way.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The one thing I will mention as a need-to-know is that the Car Care Center closes at about 7PM on weeknights, and much earlier on weekends. Depending on what day you disembark, and also how you define "spend the day" - you'll reach KSC around open, and it is usually open to about 5, then it's going to be an hour or so to Disney World with traffic any given day, and you might also be hungry and stop on route - you will want to drop everyone (and bags) at your resort, then have one person go and drop off the car. Once the Center is closed, there is no transport from there to the resorts - it only operates during open hours. So you will need to summon an Uber/Lyft/Minnie Van/whatever.

This isn't a problem unless you didn't plan for it, as it were.

(This is what we did on our trip - disembarked, spent day at KSC, ate en route to WDW, dropped everyone off at the resort, then I took it to the Car Care Center for After-Hours Drop Off. Got a Lyft, got back. Pro tip is to avoid the heck out of dropping off around the time of any Nighttime Spectacular to avoid higher rates.)

 

[remlap]

to give you a different perspective, we booked a room near KSC the night before our cruise. We were there a few minutes before opening, went directly to Atlantis, then to the bus tour, and after seeing the Saturn Rocket building, we took the shuttle back to the main complex and headed to the Dream.

We had seen the final Atlantis shuttle launch so really wanted to visit "our shuttle."

This was not our first Disney cruise and we were excited to see KSC and realized we wouldn't arrive at the port until about 1 PM. We walked into an empty departure lounge, checked in and they were on open boarding.

This isn't going to work if you're trying to see it all at KSC, but you can do the highlights in half a day. You can see the same IMAX movies at your home science museum.

Now that i've said that, I highly recommend a full day at KSC, especially the add on tour that covers the mercury and Gemini missions with a visit to the air force rocket museum